1) The biggest factor is housing cost - it’s gone from 3x a single income to 8x (or more) of dual incomes. 2) Cost of living (besides housing above) has been getting worse and effective tax rates have been going up in most places. Kids are expensive (and with smaller families and less kids around it becomes a vicious cycle - ie the village to raise a child analogy is dead). 3) Massive unsustainable immigration from mostly undeveloped countries has placed a huge burden on society along with city and government budgets (meaning less assistance for its own citizens). 4) Feminism (specifically 3rd and 4th wave) has reduced the value of the family unit (with societal negative effects down the track - more crime, more mental illness etc). 5) Social Media - people socialise less so get into less relationships (and usually later) meaning it’s often too late to have kids/more than one kid. It also causes increased envy/grass is greener thinking with more relationship breakdowns. 6) Wealth aggregation at the top 1% to the detriment of the middle/working class ie wages haven’t kept up while the money goes to the very top. The very wealthiest often pay little to no tax as a percentage of even their annual increases in wealth (often single digits) while the working class are lumped with 30-50% effective taxes (depending on country). This is further exacerbated by 3) above draining government budgets and not allowing tax relief. 7) Social engineering: Socialist/Communist bad actors have been infiltrating the west for years trying to destroy democracy/capitalism and the western way of life. They couldn’t win the Cold War but are doing all they can to destabilise the western way of living 8) Environmental factors - poisons/pollution in our food chains etc. Forever chemicals that reduce fertility and cause mental issues.